City Council Candidates Eve Bolton and Wendell Young have collaborated to develop a "Safety First Plan" for Cincinnati.
We know that for some of our young people, a culture of violence that glorifies guns, drugs, and street crime has replaced an earlier sense of community and reduced education as a priority. As a result, there has been a loss of respect for social institutions and a breakdown of
parental authority. These factors have contributed to the decline and growing blight in many of our neighborhoods.
UNITING TO SAVE OUR CITY
It has been proven that volunteerism, neighborhoods working together, community activism, strong parental supervision, community policing, swift justice, and focusing on our young helps to reduce crime. We believe that using this strategy to reduce crime will also help rebuild our sense of community within all of our neighborhoods.
Police
- Enforce laws about sexual predators' residencies.
- Stricter curfew enforcement.
- Increase foot and bike patrols.
- Explore a program for officers to take home their cars, allowing more officers to be on the streets in a more timely manner.
- Use GPS, computers, and COMSTAT technology for police assignment, accountability, and safety.
- Adopt COMSTAT methodology to track crime and results.
- Increase the communication capabilities and equipment of the Citizens on Patrol.
- Update websites to provide more accurate information and timely notification regarding crime, and encourage computer contact with the police.
- Staff substations by reducing five districts to three + East, West, and Central. This reorganization will reduce overhead costs but increase the number of officers on the streets.
- Create a Cold Case Unit, staffed with retired officers.
- Commission a victimization survey.
- Educate the public regarding the training, recruitment and procedures of police officers.
- Provide more support group services for police officers.
- Improve radio communication between police and fire divisions in emergencies.
- Build a world-class First Responders' Training facility.
Housing
- Applicable state laws and eminent domain laws on blighted property should be used where property owners are not assuming appropriate responsibility.
- Rehabilitate or remove vacant housing.
- CHMA should have it's own police force, help plan settlement for displaced residents, and provide orientation to people in transition to a different neighborhood.
- Enforce federal requirements for landlords of Section 8 housing.
- Create a citywide property and parcel inventory documenting ownership.
Neighborhood Improvement
- The City must respond to neighborhood initiatives, in areas such as signage, crosswalks, and speed bumps.
- Capital improvements need to be accelerated, such as lights and removal of blight.
- City cleanup and safety initiatives need to be a focus with more frequent litter and garbage pickups, graffiti removal, street sweepers, reflective paint, reflectors on roads, more secure trash cans, and weed abatement.
- Establish entertainment districts in nonresidential areas to reduce the noise and disruption in residential areas.
- Increase anonymous reporting capabilities for citizens.
County Services
- Limit continuances, court delays, and police officers' time in court.
- Create a new facility for non-violent offenders, including drug abuse, in order to increase the number of beds to incarcerate violent offenders in jail. This new facility will provide rehabilitation for drug abuse and will be the center of community service programs mandated by the courts, in lieu of incarceration.
- Establish 8-hour court days, night court, and community-based courts.
- Reestablish teacher probation officers and staff police substations with probation officers in high crime neighborhoods.
- More mental health services need to be available.
- A larger percentage of forfeiture money should be returned to the neighborhoods where crimes have been committed.
- Increase the number of shelters for domestic violence victims and more timely issuance of restraining orders.
- Encourage county-wide participation and responsibility for the relocation and fair distribution of public assisted housing.
City Council
- Coordinate non-profits' services.
- Strengthen partnerships between the city and faith-based organizations, community councils, and schools.
- Invest significant resources in technological tools, such as GPS, cameras, COMSTAT, computers, and radios.
- Reestablish the Safety Director's position.
- Recreation centers need to be open longer hours and on more days.
- Keep community pools open until school begins and for longer hours.
- Offer GED programs at recreation centers.
- Partner with non-profits and neighborhood organizations to help staff recreation centers.
- Computer labs need to be open at the Recreation Centers.
Partnering with Schools
- Create, enlarge, and enforce safe school zones for our children.
- Increase after-school care.
- Open school buildings more to adult and community programs.
- Find an alternative solution for inappropriate student behavior.
- Develop a plan to increase the amount of time that psychologists are in the schools.
- Reduce truancy.
- Secure funding for school nurses and school crossing guards.
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